Peris and Tally: Best Friends forever :littlies:
by laurenla
Summary: A story based off of the Uglies trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. Part 1 of 2, :littlies: is about the adventures Peris and Tally have as 12 year olds about to become Uglies. Watch for pat 2, :uglies: comming soon!
1. Together Forever

Chapter ONE

"Best friends forever."

Tally and Peris simultaneously mumbled the words as they pressed their palms together. Tallys left hand fell loosely beside her. In it was a penknife, the open blade shimmering in the midday summer sun. A slight tinge of red ran along the edge of the blade, the only visible evidence of what they had done.

Until Tally noticed the small trace of blood creeping down her wrist. The sight of their mingling blood sent her head spinning, so she tore her eyes from their clasped hands to look at Peris. The apprehensive look on his face showed that he wasn't so excited about the self-inflicted blood. But the promise of friendship could last forever now, blood for blood.

"Forever," Tally whispered as Peris's eyes flicked up to gaze into her own.

After a long minute, the two unclasped their hands. The sight of the blood seemed to make the world spin again. Tally blew slightly on her cut, then pulled out some medspray she had brought for this occasion. Spraying it on her hand, she sucked in her breath as the medicine stung her. As the anesthetic started to work, she handed the bottle to Peris and he did the same.

"This is our last summer as litlies. We might as well make the best of it."

----

Tally and Peris had known each other since birth. They were born only 3 months and 2 days apart, and they both lived on the same street of the middle pretty suburbs. They met the first day of little school, and were best friends since that day. Aside from seeing each other at school, they send pings, meet at the park, and go on adventures together. There are hardly any instances where Tally and Peris didn't talk for longer then a few days.

But their little life was soon coming to an end, as autumn would bring a new stage of life for them both...

Tally sat on a swing in the park, looking for Peris as the sun faded behind salmon-pink clouds. The street lights came on as dusk settled in, and she saw him walking up the street. Jumping up, she ran over to him, a backpack slung over her shoulder.

She grinned. "Took you long enough to get here!"

"Hey, you were late last time," he retorted.

"Fine, we're even now then," she said with a playful smile. "Let's go."

As nine o'clock rolled around the pair was heading down to the edge of the suburbs. Past that was the greenbelt, and then Uglyville – where they were headed. From experience, Tally knew they couldn't actually get into Uglyville thanks to their interface rings, but they could get pretty close. And close was all they needed: this expedition was all about spying on the Uglies.

Since this was the last summer Tally and Peris were spending as Littlies, they had more freedom then ever before. Tallys parents, Sol and Elli, said she could stay out until 10 if she wanted, and they never really cared if she came home a little late. They knew where she was, and of course she had her ring on if she got in trouble. Help was always only one ping away.

Peris stifled his giggles as they went to the edge of the greenbelt. He could never stay as quiet as Tally on their expeditions.

"Shhh!" Tally elbowed him in the ribs and he quieted down. "Look! Some people are coming!" She pointed out into the darkness of Uglyville, and they both stared as a group of Uglies whipped around a corner on their hoverboards. Both always had envied the Uglies, since littlies could never be trusted with more then hoverskates that let them float 7 centimeters above the ground at most. But Uglies could go hoverboarding. Whenever they wanted, it seemed. They usually saw a few out on their boards at night.

As the group passed, Tally felt her envy grow. They were laughing quietly as they banked corners and flew past overhead. "Don't you wish we could fly too, Peris?" she asked in a whisper voice.

"Yeah, and just think, in a few months we can! Just one more summer stuck out here," Peris whispered back, his gaze looking past Tally to follow the boarders. "But I've always wondered, how would it feel to fall off one of those? They always fly so high..."

Tally laughed quietly. Peris was always a bit hesitant about things that involved heights. "I'm sure it's safe. They probably have bungee jackets or something," she had to giggle again as Peris's face lit up. He loved the idea of those jackets. Even if he did dislike heights.

They sat together, concealed by the bushes of the greenbelt, staring off into the dark grounds of Uglyville. Laughter from the boarders faded off into the night. Tally leaned her head against his shoulder as they soaked in the moonlight. Far off in the distance she could see New Pretty Town silhouetted by fireworks just beginning to blossom in the dark sky. ...Someday, we'll be there... Tally thought to herself. Even though those days were far off. Tally was still only 11, and Peris had just turned 12. Pretties were 16 at the youngest, so it was going to be for long off years before they turned.

"It's getting late," Peris whispered in her ear. She saw him twist his interface ring, then he said "We need to head home if we want to be back on time, it's past 10 already."

"Okay, let's go home."

----

The two quietly got up and headed back into the suburbs, taking a shortcut through the park. As they reached the street where Tally lived, they softly said goodnight and she walked to her house, quietly going in and heading to her room.

She put her ring into sleep mode and murmured goodnight to her toys. The excitement of the day quickly turned to exhaustion as she pulled the covers over her and laid her head on the pillow.

Running her fingers over her scarred palm, she whispered into the silence of her room "...best friends forever..."

Tally fell asleep with sweet dreams floating in her mind.


	2. Nighttime Explorers

Together, Peris and Tally went out nearly every day that summer.

Exploring Uglyville from the greenbelt was lots of fun. But as the summer dragged on, there just wasn't enough time in their evenings to play. So, Peris and Tally decided to trick their parents.

---

"Bye Sol! Bye Ellie!"

"Bye sweetheart! Have fun with Peris," Tally's parents called to her as she left her house.

She waved goodbye, then shut the door. Heading out onto the sidewalk, Tally double checked what was in her backpack. Extra clothes, a sleeping bag, lots of snacks, and a flashlight. Typical sleepover gear. But the contents of her pack also happened to be the perfect things for a night of exploring. What Tally was really doing.

The whole thing had been Peris's idea. He had told his parents that he was going to spend the night at Tally's house, while she had told Sol and Ellie that she was staying overnight at Peris's house. The trick worked perfectly, and Tally could laugh at how clueless both of their parents were. Together, she and Peris had the whole night ahead spread out in front of them like a blank canvas, just waiting to be filled. It was warm enough to sleep outside, so of course that's what they were doing.

As they met at the park, Tally took Peris's hand and squeezed it. She'd gotten in the habit of doing so after they had cut themselves. It was a gentle reminder about their promise of forever.

"You ready to have fun?" Peris asked as he squeezed her hand back.

"Of course!"

They let go of each other, and their hands dropped to their sides, catching the motion of their strides as they walked out of the park. Taking a different path then they normally would, they passed by their small littlie school. Peris nudged her as they passed it, and they both giggled. That was one place they would never go again.

---

The new route Tally had found in the greenbelt took then closer to the river dividing New Pretty Town and Uglyville then they had ever been. They found a spot well covered with trees and bushes and stashed their gear there, and they snuck out as far as they could to a spot with a good view of both Uglyville and New Pretty Town. As the night grew darker, the lights of New Pretty Town became brighter. Sounds of far off bashes filtered through the nearly empty grounds of Uglyville, echoes of screams and excitement mixed with the beat of music. But in Uglyville, the night became darkness that swallowed the large dorms and parks.

As 11 o'clock came around, all the dorms went dark as the uglies curfew time came. Peris found it immensely funny that they littlies were out later then the older uglies. His hand was clamped over his mouth trying to stifle his uncontrollable giggling. Tally elbowed in him the side.

"Can you be quite for two minutes?"

"Aw, come on Tally. It's not like anyone else is out here," he said through the giggles.

Now tally was laughing too. "You're right, they're all in bed now," she said through her quiet laughter. But something moving caught her eye, and she motioned to Peris to look "Hey, look over there..."

A group of uglies was quietly sneaking past a dorm. They weren't laughing or talking or making any noise like uglies usually did. And they were dressed in dark colors that blended into the night. Tally had to squint to see them as they quietly went down a path that headed towards the river.

Tally and Peris watched in amazement as they actually snuck across an old bridge into New Pretty Town.

They stared at each other.

Both of them knew that uglies were allowed into New Pretty Town as much as they were allowed into Uglyville as littlies. Basically, they weren't. But the group of uglies didn't seem to care. They were across the river and sneaking through a garden that snaked its way into the city as Tally lost sight of them.

How...?

The unasked question went through both Peris and Tally's minds. Interface rings wouldn't ever let anyone go where they weren't supposed to. Tally and Peris had discovered this on their first trip to the greenbelt to spy on uglies. They couldn't go much past the middle of the belt without a warning ping going off in their heads that told them they were leaving the suburbs.

"Maybe they're pretties?" Peris offered as a suggestion to why the group was in both places.

"No, pretties never go anywhere but New Pretty Town. And anyway, why would they have to sneak back into their own part of the city?"

"But they had to have been pinged or something!" Peris exclaimed.

"Yeah...but Peris, what if they took their rings off. Then ran away. They wouldn't be pinged..."

A moment of silence passed between the two. If uglies could take their rings off, could they? Tally silently squeezed Peris's hand – the one with the scar and his interface ring. She could see an idea forming out of his confusion. His forehead was crinkled a little like it always did when he was confused, but it quickly smoothed out and his eyes brightened with the new thought.

"You up for an adventure?" he whispered.

"Always."


	3. Leave the Rings

Leave the Rings

Tally held her interface ring in front of her face.

Peris already had his off, stashed away in his backpack. But Tally eyed the ring with caution. Was this really a good idea? she thought, flipping the ring from one had to another.

"You ready yet?"

Peris was all smiles, excited about the new and thrilling adventure he and Tally were about to go on. He had taken his ring off without hesitation the moment the idea had gone between them to sneak away. Tally sighed. She loved their little expeditions, but was this going too far? Why couldn't Peris just be content in the greenbelt?

"I'm ready as I'll ever be," she replied with a sigh, and a little hesitation.

"Then let's go," Peris urged, ignoring her catution. "We only have so much time tonight."

---

She had to admit that sneaking around Uglyville _was _more fun then spying on it from the greenbelt. Tally and Peris were quietly tiptoeing around dorms, parks, and the spires that held the schools for the uglies. The sleeping uglies.

But they both knew that not all the uglies were asleep. Though all the lights in Uglyville were out, behind some of those windows and out in the woods were uglies who were very awake. And that was the danger. They had seen a group of them sneak over to New Pretty Town, to the fireworks, parties, and pretty faces they weren't allowed to join.

Her boldness getting the best of her, Tally wished they could have followed those Uglies to New Pretty Town. Neither she or Peris knew much about the town, other then that they weren't allowed in. And that they liked to stay up all night partying.

Peris was mumbling "This is boring," as they snuck past yet another huge, silent dorm.

"It was your idea," Tally reminded him. No way he was getting away with complaining when the whole thing was his idea.

"Yeah, I know," he snapped at her. He hated it when things went wrong. "I just thought it would be more...interesting over here." Glancing around in the darkness, nothing particularly fascinating caught his eye. So much for interesting.

Tally giggled. "Interesting? Come on, Peris. Everyone here is asleep!"

"But..." Peris was going to remind her about the uglies they had seen sneaking across the river when something distracted him. "They aren't." He pointed off into the darkness of dusk, but Tally could see what he was pointing at. There was another group of uglies out, and they were hoverboarding.

Tally vaguely wondered what time it was, but realized she couldn't check without her ring.

"We have to hide," Peris urged. "Those boarders are going to go right over us if we don't move!"

He was right, Tally saw. She noticed some bushes close by, and scrambled over to them as fast as her littlie legs could carry her. Flopping in the bushes, she made herself look as invisible as possible. Peris, on the other hand, tripped and took a hard fall as he tired to get out of the path. Stumbling towards the bushes where Tally hid, the uglies saw him.

Crouched in the bushes together, they heard the uglies whispering as they got closer, and Tally saw them slow to a stop where they had last seen Peris. Peris, though, was looking dejectedly at a scrape on his arm he had gotten from falling.

"You've got medspray, right?" He asked in a whisper.

"Shh!" Tally hushed him. "It's back with the rest of our stuff," she hurriedly assured him, while nervously watching the boarders coming to where they were hidden. Taking Peris's hand, she squeezed it tightly.

---

"So, let me get this straight. You're littlies."

Tally and Peris nodded.

"And you snuck into Uglyville."

More nodding.

"Wow." The uglies stared at them, arms crossed, with their hoverboards silently floating behind them. "Why? And how old are you guys anyway? Nine, ten maybe?"

Peris frowned. "I'm 12, and Tally is less then two months away from her 12th birthday too." Now Peris had his arms crossed as well, glaring at the uglies.

One of the uglies smirked at him. "Okay, you're 12. You just couldn't wait a few weeks or whatever until you guys got here to see what it's like?" Glancing at the other uglies, he whispered loud enough for Tally and Peris to hear "what dorks." The others grinned and nodded, as the ugly took another shot at insulting the littlies. "How about you guys just go back to your mommy and daddy, and leave the tricks to us uglies." He laughed again, then hopped back on his hoverboard. The others did the same. As they left, one ugly looked back and said, "At least you guys aren't completely stupid. Glad to see you were smart enough to take your rings off."

Tally and Peris stared as they hovered away, hardly believing what had just happened. She sent a questioning gaze into his brown eyes, and she got the same look back. "I think we should go back," She said quietly.

"This time, you're right," Peris sighed. Glancing at his arm, he frowned. "I really could use some of that medspray right now. Bad scrape, huh?" He grinned slightly, then pulled her in the direction of the greenbelt, and the safety of Crumblyville. The first notes of dawn were nearing, the dark sky beginning to lighten slightly, Tally noted.

She grinned. "I bet I can beat you back!" she challenged Peris, breaking into a quick jog.

"Can not!" He called after her, not bothering to keep his voice quiet as he ran to catch up with her. They laughed as he caught her, proving for the 100th time that he could run faster then Tally. Tally felt some of her anxiousness leaking out of her as they went back. Neither of them had been expecting, or particularly wanting, to have a run-in with any uglies. But going back to where they belonged, happy and laughing, Tally thought that finally, something that night was going right.

But when they got back to the greenbelt, Tally was horrified to notice that something was very wrong.

Their stuff was missing.


	4. Lost and Found

Lost and Found

Tally drew a sharp breath, then started to quickly look around. Everything _looked_ familiar, so why wasn't her backpack and everything else there? She felt the panic starting to rise in her.

Their _rings_.

How could she have let Peris talk her into leaving them? He didn't seem to notice her panic, rummaging around in the bushes, thinking his interface ring, backpack, and everything else was just stashed in the trees. Talking a calming breath, Tally tried to believe that maybe Peris had the right idea. Maybe everything was right where they left it. Maybe they just weren't in the right spot. Or maybe everything was gone.

She shook that thought from her mind and kept looking. Peris was murmuring to himself, something about misplacing things. Her mind seemed dizzy, already thinking of excuses of why her things were gone. The food would be simple enough to explain away, and she could hide that fact that she lost her clothes and backpack. But interface rings weren't supposed to even be taken off except when you were sleeping...

"Hey Tally" She could her an underlying note of dread in Peris's voice. "Do you see our stuff anywhere over there? I can't find it..."

Keeping her voice even and calm, trying her best to avoid sounding panicked, she replied "It's gone! Everything's gone Peris! We lost it all"

So much for calm and un-panicked.

Peris's brown eyes were wide as he came over to Tally. "Are you serious? This isn't something to joke about. Do you have any idea what our parents will say when we tell them we lost our rings?"

"No," Tally shook her head. This was all her fault. If she had tried to talk Peris out of going, instead of getting caught up in the moment. Instead of not wanting to disagree. Her eyes welled up with tears "Peris, what are we going to do? We've never been in this much trouble before!" Sighing, she thought of how she was going to be spending her last weeks as a littlie; in major trouble with Sol and Ellie instead of enjoying life.

"It's okay Tally." She felt the comforting weight of Peris's arm over her shoulders. "Think about it. If Sol and Ellie don't notice that your ring is missing this morning, we can just come back here and look when it's lighter out." He pulled her into a gentle hug. "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

She squeezed him tight. In his arms, Tally always felt safe. "Okay," she quietly replied. "Let's come back here at noon. I want a few hours of sleep tonight." She felt the worry slowly slipping away, being replaced by exhaustion.

As the late summer sky brightened, the pair headed back to their homes. It would be hardly any trouble for Tally to sneak in and tell her parents she got home early from the "sleepover" she had been at. Quietly sneaking in the back door of her suburbian home, Tally got into bed and let much-needed sleep wash over her worries.

---

A few short hours later, Tally woke to the sound of several voices in the front room talking. She listened sleepily to the conversation, and realized there was someone talking to her parents. Before she could completely wake up and comprehend their murmurings, though, a door shut and all she could hear were Sol and Ellie mumbling. Something about the now missing voice clicked, it sounded like a teacher. Authoritive and firm, not unlike the voice of a middle-pretty warden she had heard once. That couldn't be good, a warden talking to her parents. Tally clung to one thread of hope that this was all unrelated to the night before.

Two pairs of footsteps were coming towards her door.

It was clear that her parents were going to her room. Her heart was pounding madly as explanations and excuses for everything that happened tumbled into her brain. As the footsteps stopped outside her door, her breath caught and she decided that her best defense was to just feign sleep.

She knew she was in trouble. Big time.

"Sweetie, are you awake yet?" The soothing voice of her mother floated into her room.

After Tally said nothing, the door quietly opened and her parents walked in. She felt herself holding her breath, and tired to fake breathing like she was asleep. As she realized pretending was pointless, she rolled over slowly and squinted up at her parents.

"Yes Ellie, I'm up," she said in a quiet voice.

"That's good sweetheart, because your father and I have something to talk to you about," her mother said in a gentle tone. Through her squinted eyes, Tally saw sunlight glint off her lost ring held in her fathers hand. All her excuses and explanations feebly made their way into her head again, but she knew none of them would save her this time.

Tally sighed at the expectant looks on her parents face. She knew that they wanted an answer, and that they were sure she knew why they were there. Tally gave the only appropriate phrase that came to mind; "I'm sorry." Her voice was hushed in shame.

"Well, I'd certainly hope so!" Her fathers voice was less calm then Ellie's. "We were scared to death when a warden showed up at our door, asking if we knew where our daughter was. I told her 'yes, Tally's just gotten home from her friends house', and imagine my surprise when she gave me your interface ring and said 'it doesn't look that way sir'. Your poor mother was so worried that something had happened to you!" Sol was getting a little more frantic and loud in her recollections of the warden, as if Tally might suddenly not be okay.

"But you're alright, and that's all that matters," Ellie's still calm and relieved voice cut in. "But please, don't ever take your ring off again! The warden said she had found yours and Peris's rings just laying on the ground. You should know better Tally! You're nearly 12, almost an ugly, loosing your ring is something that should only happen to tiny littlies." She pulled Tally into a tight hug, and stopped her rant about being responsible.

"I promise I won't ever do it again"

"We know you won't," her parents replied with confident voices. "You're very lucky nothing happened to you while you were not wearing your ring. Now, you can have some more sleep, but I want you up in an hour. We're taking a trip out to the park today – this might be our last chance before you go off to ugly school." Each of her parents hugged her, and with that, they left, leaving a stunned Tally sitting in her bed, trying to figure out why she wasn't in trouble. Her parents hadn't even asked about what happened. They really though she had just left her ring by accident?

A ping interrupted her thoughts. Peris apparently had just gotten his ring back too, with minimal trouble from his parents. Thinking of how clueless Sol and Ellie were also, Tally laughed and sent him a ping inviting him to the park with her. She signed off of the ping with a simple phrase,

"Best friends forever, no matter what my happen"

Tally smiled and sank back into her pillow. _No matter what may happen..._


	5. Orentation

Orientation

A few weeks later, Tally and Peris were completely beyond the rings incident. The days had flown by, and the world held many more exciting things to explore and many distractions to hold their attention. Sneaking around, loosing interface rings, and Uglyville itself were all left alone and forgotten.

But just as quickly as they forgot the uglies, a ping was sent to them reminding about the beginning-of-ugly-school orientation. A reminder that they were leaving the suburbs forever, and once again returning to Uglyville. This time though, they would belong.

---

Tally hugged Sol and Ellie goodbye, and was waving as their groundcar left her at the outskirts of Uglyville standing next to a vaguely nervous Peris. She felt overdressed in the nice outfit Ellie had dressed her in. A skirt and tank top in muted pinks, her hair pulled back into a smooth ponytail. Ellie had told her that she should dress nicely to make a good impression on her new peers and teachers. Tally reached up and pulled out the ponytail, letting her hair fall around her shoulders.

Walking into Uglyville, her interface ring stayed silent – no warning pings.

A group of kids from their littlie school were standing with a multitude of other 12-year-olds outside a large building. They waved to Peris and Tally as they walked up. Her smile was a bit nervous, as were theirs

"Hey Tally, Hey Peris," their classmate Brinn greeted them.

"Hi Brinn. Have you seen Melly yet?" Tally asked while looking around for other kids from their old school.

"Nope," Brinn replied. "Wait, I think she's coming..." he stood on tiptoes to see over Tally's head, "Yeah, that's her over there."

A blond girl ran up to them, her cheeks flushed and hair slightly tousled from running. Tally grinned when she noticed that she was wearing a skirt too.

"Melly, late again?" Peris teased with a smile. You could always count on Melly to be the last one to class.

"Yeah, but they haven't started the orientation yet, have they?" She poked him gently. "Nope? Then that means I'm not late!"

Peris was about to say something back as a middle pretty walked up in front of the crowd. A hush fell over the 12-year-olds, and Tally saw now that nearly everyone had the same look, a mix of nervousness, awe, and slight excitement as the middle-pretty launched into a speech explaining what the littlie orientation would be all about. She got as far as saying that they would be divided into dorms, and then given a tour, before Tally started to get bored and look around again. She spent the next 10 minutes wondering which of the new faces she would be living and having class with.

When the long-winded explanation was done, they were all given bracelets. Tally's was green. So was Peris's. Melly, Brinn, and all the others from her old school had green as well.

"I wonder is that means we're in a group with them too?" Peris mused, motioning to other groups with the same color.

"Yeah, I guess so ..." More middle-pretties were herding the kids with matching bracelet colors together. She guessed that there were about 50 kids in each group, and there were 6 different groups. Within each group, it was obvious what littlies had gone to school together. Everyone seemed to cling to their old classmates and friends. Tally stuck next to Peris, with Melly and Brinn close by as well.

"Quiet please!" The middle-pretty leading them loudly asked. Silence quickly fell over the group. "Thank you," he continued. "Please follow me, and we will begin our tour of the Uglyville grounds." As tally's group left, se did the others, walking towards the dorms and buildings scattered throughout their new home.

---

A few hours later, they were sprawled out on the grassy hill behind their dorm, lunch trays in front of them. It was too nice a day to eat inside, the summer sun was warm and it wrapped around them like a blanket. Conversation flowed easily between the group, and it was the most relaxed they'd been all day.

The first half of the orientation, of which lunch was the half-way point, was a tour of the grounds. Uglyville was huge. Tally had counted about 25 dorms, each with their own colors and sports teams. If every dorm had about 50 people in it...she couldn't do the math in her head, but it was way more people her age then she had ever been around as a littlie. But along with the dorms, there were buildings for all the different subjects – and art school, science labs, gyms, a place for metal shop, fields, as well as parks and a beach at the river.

Tally was definitely going to put up a map in her dorm room.

How huge everything felt was practically all they talked about. So many people and places! "Ginormous!" Tally offered with a laugh as a synonym for big, huge, gigantic, and whatever else they could come up with to describe Uglyville.

Too soon, their lunch was over and they went inside for the 2nd half of the orientation; signing up for their fall classes. Inside their dorms library, yet another middle-pretty talked to them, this time explaining the class offerings and what they were required to take. By the end of the lecture, Tally was zoned out, just looking around the library and absentmindedly playing with her green bracelet. Green, it turned out, was one of her dorms colors. White was the other.

Peris nudged her "What are you going to take?"

Tally stared blankly at him. "Huh? Take?"

"What classes do you want to take this fall?" he slowly asked again.

"Oh!" Tally finally realized that the middle-pretty had stopped talking, and that everyone was murmuring about the classes. "Well, we have to take biology, Rusty history, English, and math. I'm going to take drawing too. It sounds cool."

"Yeah," Peris mused. "But I want to take metal shop. Maybe I'll take drawing in the spring."

"Well, we'll see about that in a few months. Let's just sign up for fall classes now," she pointed to workscreens where people were lining up to register.

Together they got up to get in line, and were followed by Brinn and Melly. Along with the basic requirements, Brinn was taking music and food history, while Melly wanted to take metal shop like Peris.

"Maybe we'll be in the same class!" She said excitedly. Peris laughed, but admitted that he hoped his classes wouldn't be full of strangers. Secretly, Tally agreed. She didn't like the feeling of walking into a room full of new people.

As the others discussed the possibilities of meeting new people, Tally stepped up to the screen, and an eye-reader flashed at her. Her name appeared on the screen, and she clicked through menus of classes, picking the ones she had wanted. It took her no more then 30 seconds, and she stepped away from the screen with a slight feeling of pride that she had figured everything out so quickly. She grinned slightly as Peris had trouble finding the math class he wanted to take.

While Peris struggled through picking his classes, Tally looked around the library again with a sense of happiness. Everything was done, and as soon as her friends were finished they could all go up to their rooms and just hang out. She looked for a place to sit down while she waited for the others, and noticed a group of older, senior uglies chatting at a small table. They had late birthdays like her, she guessed, since they were still in the dorm as all the littlies came in to take the place of older uglies.

Looking at them closer, something clicked in Tally's mind, something that made them look familiar. _No way_ she thought, looking at two of them. _I've never met them. It couldn't be. The only people I've met my age were in my littlie school. Uglies? I've never met ... any ... _ It couldn't be. A girl and a boy at the table looked just like some she and Peris had run into that night they snuck into Uglyville. _I'd have to ask him. Peris would remember._

By chance, the boy looked up and caught Tally staring at him with her surprised expression. His eyes narrowed, as if trying to recognize her. Tally knew he had to be that boy who had made fun of them.

"Hey, you. Squint. Come over here," he motioned Tally over to their table. She she hesitated, glancing at Peris who had just stood next to her, he chuckled "What? We won't hurt you. We just want to talk to you about ... certain littlie things you might know about."

A nervous glance to Peris confirmed her suspicions. Those uglies were the ones they had run into during their little adventure. Tally slowly turned away from them, towards Peris.

"We can't ignore them!" He whispered.

"I know, but ... what if they are still mad at us?"

"Don't worry. What can they do even if they are mad?" He squeezed her hand and gently pulled her towards the uglies, whispering to her "We're not littlies anymore. We belong here now, Tally. We're ugly."


End file.
